The National Guard: DoD's Interagency Bridge to Homeland Security

• Main Author: Steenson, Michael S.
• Other Authors: NATIONAL DEFENSE UNIV NORFOLK VA JOINT ADVANCED WARFIGHTING SCHOOL
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: 2008
• Subjects: Military Forces and Organizations; *HOMELAND SECURITY; *NATIONAL GUARD; CIVIL DEFENSE; THESES; CIVIL AFFAIRS; LOCAL GOVERNMENT; HOMELAND DEFENSE; UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT; UNITED STATES; SECURITY; NORTHCOM
• Online Access: http://www.dtic.mil/docs/citations/ADA487129; http://oai.dtic.mil/oai/oai?&verb=getRecord&metadataPrefix=html&identifier=ADA487129

The pendulum has swung back and civil defense is a priority again, although the new terms in the national lexicon are homeland security, homeland defense and civil support. Securing the homeland in America's complex security environment requires Federal departments and agencies, state and local governments, the private sector, and individual citizens to perform many strategic, operational, and tactical level tasks in an integrated fashion. Arguably, the most formidable United States Government (USG) interagency challenge is here in the United States. The National Guard is uniquely positioned to provide the interagency bridge between the inter-governmental (Federal and State/local), inter-departmental (DoD and other Federal departments) and inter-sector (government and private) groups and organizations. The thesis of this paper is: To best support the homeland security interagency process and improve the national unity of effort, DoD should locally assign the National Guard the primary responsibility for homeland security and properly fund it to do so. Inherent in this strategy is the modification of US Northern Command's (NORTHCOM) composition and command structure to best support this responsibility. By providing an analysis of the USG's actions in support of civil defense/homeland security before and after 9/11: the history, roles and responsibilities of DoD and other major stakeholders, this thesis will support and validate the official elevation of the National Guard's role in homeland security and the inherent composition of NORTHCOM.